Plan of attack for attending funerals with small children (battle guide)

Kai after she took a rose from the casket.

As I had previously posted this past week my Grandfather passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. Here is the link to that blog post.

Well the Wake was this past Sunday. I attended it with my Father, HB and Kai. I was worried about what Kai would do especially with these two factors...

1. With seeing Great Grandpa laid out in the casket
2. The wake was 5 hours long. Thats a long time for adults let alone a 4 year old.

So I packed just about everything I could think of except the sink lol
I was well prepared and I didn't need half of it!
I packed a beach tote (the kind with all the awesome pockets) FULL. I made sure I had things for both  HB and Kai because I figured they were both going to get bored.
I packed..

• Cell phone chargers
• Change of clothes for everyone (but me lol)
• Extra pair of shoes. 
• Wet ones
• Coloring books and crayons
• Snacks (I took protein bars and animal crackers)
• Leap Pad (or any game)
• Charger for the game
• Story books
• Hair brush

I don't know if this is the norm for other wakes but at my Grandfather's they had a sandwich tray and veggies tray.
I got very lucky because my favorite Aunt and Cousin pitched in and helped keep Kai occupied.
What shocked me more though was when I was standing up by the casket with the rest of the family shaking hands with everyone and Kai came up to stand with me.
She stood there like a perfect little lady and shook hands with (I lost count) numerous friends of my Grandpas.
We had a couple hiccups but I think that is to be expected for a 4 year old.

At the funeral today she was great. For both of the things we let her bring her comfort item. Her stuffed bunny named Lola.
I would suggest planning for the worst unfortunately and then praying it doesn't come to that lol

If anyone has any questions I'm more then willing to answer..